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A11
interview
March 16, 2014 www.guardian.co.tt Sunday Guardian
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0315043
Have an
opinion?
Log on to
guardian.co.tt
to post your
comments
Mr Minister, let s now
turn to your portfolio.
We are still seeing on the
food shelves in the
supermarkets a lot of
imported food items.
How does that impact
on your ministry s plans
to reduce the food
import bill?
Well, it is not directly,
in my respectful view,
because people s tastes
cannot be legislated for,
it is an acquired taste. I
hear what you are say-
ing...
Yes, but isn t...?
I hear what you are
saying, but let me finish,
right? So after a decade
of being cultivated on a
diet which is external to
T&T---because the diet
that we enjoy now is not
what your great-grand-
mother had as a staple,
and is not to be found on
the dining table today---
a diet today of hamburg-
er, fries, and all these fast
food restaurants has been
cultivated...But we are
not a "Burnhamesque"
kind of country where we
ban this and ban that in
order to promote local
(food).
But hasn t there been
a move over the years to
grow more food local-
ly?Yes, and it is happen-
ing. We have had five
consecutive quarters of
growth in the agricultural
sector.
Can you give us a
breakdown in terms of
figures?
I said it in the Senate,
you can pull it from
Hansard (the verbatim
reports of parliamentary
proceedings), right? And
for the first time in
Trinidad, the sector has
seen a re-energisation, if
you will. We are moving
people into local foods,
and we are promoting it
in different ways.
For example?
In recent years, there
has been new focus on
healthy lifestyles, and we
are getting away from the
chemicals and pesticides
and some of the lifestyle
diseases that Minister
Fuad Khan has been
speaking about.
One of your predeces-
sors told me about 20
years ago, that the food
import bill at that time
stood at one billion dol-
lars. What has been
done to reduce this
astronomical figure?
We have reduced it
between three to four per
cent. The last figure I got
from the Ministry of
Trade, I do not have at
the top of my head...We
are seeing that while the
amount has been going
down in terms of quan-
tity, the price has been
going up because of the
price increases on the
international market.
For example, recently
I have been advised by
my technocrats that there
has been some sort of
restriction on milk expor-
tation and cheese from
China, because of par-
ticular things which have
affected global prices.
Senator Maharaj, in
spite of the incentives
that governments
including the PP have
offered to farmers over
the years, you still hear
people like Shiraz Khan
complaining about the
lack of more effective
assistance from the
Government.
Mr Khan is a member
of the Movement for
Social Justice, he is a per-
son that the ADB has
some issues with. What
he says, I take with a
shovel of salt, because he
has a political and finan-
cial agenda to grind.
I am working with a
group which he broke
away from...Another
group I am working with
is the Sheep and Goat
Society, led by John Bore-
ly, which is not in protest
with this ministry.
Apart from involving
yourself in some contro-
versial issues, what are
some of the positives
being undertaken by
your ministry?
Ok. I thought you were
not going to get there.
(Smiles) OK. We have re-
launched the Cedros
Breeding Unit down in
Chatham, we are also
looking at the Chatham
Dairy Unit, both of which
have been abandoned by
the PNM. We have a
similar exercise in Poole
in Rio Caro.
Why you cut me off
so? (laughs).
I do not have enough
space. You seem to be
having some problems
with the Agricultural
Society. What is hap-
pening down there?
There is no Agricul-
tural Society, and I have
three reports before me:
one from the person who
recently conducted the
society s recent election,
saying that the election
lacked transparency, it
was undemocratic,
essentially fraudulent
because of a number of
inconsistencies...
I think I read some-
where it was stated you
had some kind of inter-
est in...
You looking like you
want to interview your-
self, you know? Before I
finish one question you
asking me another. Fellas
like you should hang up
all yuh guns (laughs).
A next report from the
senior legal officer from
this ministry saying the
same thing. The secretary
of the board saying the
same thing and, in fact,
the election was declared
null and void... However,
it was virtually hijacked.
Finally Mr Minister,
what incentives are the
ministry offering young
people to encourage
them to get into food
production? Because as
you may know, farming
was once considered a
kind of demeaning job.
Well, we have a num-
ber of young people
entering the sector, so it
is happening and youths
are seeing farming now
as a viable alternative,
and these are people who
may not have come from
people who are farmers.
As you know we have
retooled the Yappa, the
Caroni Green Initiative
whereby people who got
land from Caroni, we
have now allowed those
who do not have an
interest in farming to rent
out their lands to farm-
ers.
T&T importing less food Food Production
Minister Devant
Maharaj. PHOTO:
KEITH MATTHEWS
...resurgence in agri sector says Maharaj
From Page A10